Authorities this week in Oak View found nearly 200 roosters that had been prepared or trained for cockfighting, with three men ultimately arrested.

The roosters, along with hundreds of hens and chicks, were discovered after investigators with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant Wednesday in the 900 block of Santa Ana Boulevard. The site is a ranch property in a rural area tucked between Lake Casitas and Highway 33 along the route that connects Ventura and Ojai.

Officials also seized dagger-like blades typically attached to roosters during fights to maximize injuries, authorities said, as well as training supplies, hundreds of syringes and controlled substances they believe were used to facilitate the staged battles.

“Cockfighting is a ‘blood sport’ in which two roosters, specifically bred and trained for aggressiveness, are placed ‘beak to beak’ in a small ring and encouraged to fight to the death,” the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. The fights can last a few seconds or up to 15 minutes, with the fighting birds sometimes injected with cocaine or other substances to amp up their behavior.

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These cockfighting spurs were allegedly seized by authorities in Oak View. Nearly 200 roosters, along with hundreds of hens and chicks, were discovered after investigators with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant Wednesday in the 900 block of Santa Ana Boulevard. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

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The seized roosters will likely be humanely destroyed, as is typical in such cases, said Detective Greg Cadman. The county lacks facilities large enough to house the birds, which cannot be stored together because they have been bred and trained to be aggressive, he said. They can’t be eaten, he added, because they may have been injected with steroids, vitamins, cocaine or other substances. The hens and chicks will be left at the site as long as they have food, water and are well cared for, he said.

Authorities found evidence that some fights may have been held on the residential ranch property, Cadman said, including what appeared to be a makeshift arena. One of the three men arrested Wednesday lived at the property, he said. The other two were also Oak View residents.

Personnel from the sheriff’s major crimes bureau, the Ojai Police Department and Ventura County Animal Services executed the warrant. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office provides police services in Ojai as well as surrounding unincorporated communities.

Luis Felipe Santillan, 25, was arrested on suspicion of possessing narcotics for sales, a felony, as well as on suspicion of the misdemeanor offenses of possessing roosters for cockfighting and possessing cockfighting implements. As of late Thursday, he remained in Ventura County jail with bail set at $55,000, online jail records showed.

The other two men, ages 53 and 31, were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor offenses related to cockfighting. The Star generally does not name those arrested only for misdemeanor offenses.